


Spider plants and Love

by winglessburst



Category: IMFACT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Taeho thinks Ungjae is aces, Ungjae owns a flower shop, love is easy to grow, spider plants are easy to grow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 00:20:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20434916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winglessburst/pseuds/winglessburst
Summary: Taeho can't keep a plant alive to save his life but when he falls in love with the owner of a flower shop he strikes a deal.





	1. Spider Plant of Love

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story as part of a challenge on Imfact amino.

Flowers.

That is what he planted last month. 

Just simple flowers. But of course they didn't make it. 

Taeho sighs and sags into the two flower pots in front of him, now hosts to the brown remains of what they could have been. 

Tulips, simple tulips. His five year old cousin could plant them and keep them alive but of course all Taeho could do was drown them with water just as they were starting to sprout. He sits up with another sigh and gets to his feet. 

"Fine," he mutters to himself while succumbing to defeat, "to the store I go." Taeho throws on a light jacket and grabs his phone and keys before heading out the door. He searches up the directions on his phone as he falls in step with the small crowd already out and about. His phone confirms that the flower shop is right where he thought it would be, 2 blocks away and to the right. 

He slips his phone back into his pocket and feels his smile grow with each step he takes until he is standing in front of the entrance to the flower shop with a big grin taking over his expression. He shakes his head a few times and thinks about rain and dead flowers to gain better control over his mouth before opening the door and walking in. 

A floral aroma drifts to him as he steps in and there in the middle aisle of the tiny shop is the sole reason for his new interest in flowers. The bell over the door chimes as the door swings shut and Taeho's reason stands and wipes his hands on his apron before adjusting the delicate frames of his glasses to sit more comfortably on his face. His prominent lips curve upwards on his face just before opening to speak.

"Welcome back. How are those seeds doing?" the man asks. Taeho swallows as his words once again bring flashbacks of drowned mushy soil and browning wilted flowers. He hangs his head unable to keep it up under the guilt and when he looks back up at the man he sees the smile on his lips fall to better match the concerned set of his eyebrows.

"That bad?" He asks. Taeho nods and lifts his head to fully meet his eye.

"I - I drowned them. I'm sorry, I feel so bad." Taeho says. The man's eyebrows quirk and the corners of his lips slowly drag upwards once again. He walks over to Taeho and lifts his hand to lightly flick Taeho's forehead. Taeho feels his eyes widen as his heart skips as if it was receiving the shock. 

"That was for the flowers. Do you want me to give you something easier to plant, maybe something already started? I can give you some more pointers if you still want to try." He says. 

"Really? Are you sure? I don't want you to waste your time." Taeho's head sags once again and he looks down at their feet. His heart shivers in his chest as he waits for the man's reply. When he feels fingers move roughly through his hair he jumps and he looks back up to see a playful smile now playing on the man's lips. 

"It's only a waste of time if you aren't serious about it. And I would think your reason would make you serious enough. Unless you're no longer interested." His hand stops messing up the hair on Taeho's head but it lingers there with fingers still threaded loosely through the strands. 

"I am still very serious!" In Taeho's excitement he nearly shouts the words so that he can hear them over the jumping beat of his heart at the contact. The man breathes out with his answering smile and his hand leaves Taeho's head to once again adjust his glassess. 

"Good. Let's pick something else out." He motions for Taeho to follow him deeper into the store and follow Taeho does. He leads him over to the smaller potted plants full of various herbs, leafy plants, and flowers. 

"How about we try starting you out with a spider plant." He laughs at Taeho's disgust at hearing the name of the plant he is pointing to. It has no flowers and sports long stems filled with long thin green leaf blades that weigh it down to lay lazily in a canopy. "Don't judge it just yet. It is a resilient plant. You can take a small offshoot of the stems and replant them and that will root and start a new plant. It is a bit hard to nurse from the beginning but once you get it going you will have a plant on your hands whose sole purpose is to thrive wherever it is." 

The man lightly runs his fingers along the blades of the sprawled spider plant in front of him as he speaks. His eyes stay cast on the plant and his expression is so gentle. Taeho feels touched to be shown such a sight but jealousy rises from the pit of his stomach as something becomes very clear to him. The gentleness was for the plants and the vulnerability he was being shown had to be because of the comfort the man felt around the plants that surrounded them and not from Taeho's presence. He stares down at the spider plant in front of both of them and vows silently that one day he was also going to hold as big of a space in this man's heart. Just you wait, he thinks to the plant.

"What do you think?" The words penetrate Taeho's thoughts and he snaps his attention back to the man and feels heat fill his ears as he finds he is the focus of the man's gaze now.

"Uh, yeah this sounds like a good one to try. How about I take a small shoot and try to get it to root, like you said." His brown eyes are live pools that continue to draw Taeho in and he feels his heart sink when the man looks away first. He is examining the plant once again. "Alright, lets choose a shoot and plant it together." Taeho leans closer to the plant and follows the line of the man's tracing fingers a they search. "This one here looks really good." He says while running his hand along a smaller sprig of leaves. Taeho nods vigourously making the man laugh lightly. 

"Alright let me get my pruning shears." Taeho waits for him as he heads to the back room for a moment. 

He comes back with his arms full with supplies for planting. Taeho jumps in to take some of them to lighten his load. He thanks him and then his gentleness disappears as he begins instructing Taeho on the entire process from pruning the spider plant to planting the shoot they had chosen. Taeho does his best to follow his instructions precisely not wanting to appear incompetent but everytime he messes up the man takes his hand and guides his movements to show him what doing it the right way looks and feels like. Every touch feels like it could be Taeho's last moments as his heartrate spikes each time which only leads to more mistakes. Finally they do get it properly planted and Taeho helps clean up all the spilled soil and the now dirty supplies. The man lets him into the back so he can wash the supplies in the sink. 

"You did a good job." The man says leaning against some shelves next to the sink. Taeho glances his way taking him in from his toes to the top of his head before quickly looking back down at the shears he is washing. 

"That's only cause you did a good job teaching me." He says. They fall silent for a moment and Taeho feels a prickling on his skin as if the man has his eyes on him. Taeho keeps his focus on the job in front of him until he finishes and turns the water off. He places the shears down to dry and looks around for a towel. The man takes his wrists in his hand and pulls them down and towards him. In trying to protest and take a steadying breath at the same time a surprised noise comes from Taeho and he jumps when the man wraps his apron around Taeho's hands. Taeho meets his eyes as the man rubs and pats Taeho's hands dry on his apron. There is a mischevious playfulness in his eyes. Taeho's eyes once again float to the man's lips to see a wide grin there. The man's hands still but don't let go of Taeho.

"See something you like?" The man asks. Taeho's eyes trace the line of his lips as they move with his words and they seem to get closer the longer he looks. Taeho feels himself nod slightly and hears a small chuckle from the man in front of him. Just as he feels the light fluttering warmth of the other's lips against his own two fingers separate them and press lightly on Taeho's lips. He straightens and feels his entire face fill with heat this time. 

"Not so fast. We have a deal remember?" The man says moving his fingers off of Taeho's lips to let him speak. Taeho feels a pout take over his expression but can't stop it from happening. 

"How long do I have for this one?" Taeho asks dreading the answer as he thinks back to the two month deadline his tulips had.

"I'll give you a week. If it is still alive by then I'll say yes. Sound possible?" Taeho nods enthusiastically. A week was much shorter than he thought the time lmit would be. "This time around send me daily updates so I can give you pointers. We're gonna make sure it lasts much longer than a week." The man says. Taeho hopes the suggestion he picks up on in his words is real because his heart is already soaring. The man lets the apron drop from around Taeho's hands and grabs on of them to lead him out of the room and into the main store area.

"Go grab your plant and things so we can ring it up." He lets go of Taeho's hand and heads to the register. Taeho collects his things and heads over. He fishes his phone out of his pocket and opens up his wallet app as the man rings his things up. He places everything in a paper bag and tells Taeho the price. Taeho holds his phone over the card reader and it beeps when it is approved. He signs the receipt and grabs the bag to hold it to his chest. 

"I'll update you as soon as I get home to make sure I put it in a good spot." Taeho says. The man nods and adjusts his glasses.

"Sounds good. I'll look forward to hearing from you." He says while leaning his body on the counter. Taeho looks around as he tries to think of something else to stall their parting but he just feels the air turning awkward as he stands there. He is so distracted by his own scattered thoughts that he misses the gentle smile that grows slowly over the other man's face as he watches Taeho. The man clears his throat startling Taeho out of his thoughts before he focuses his attention on the man. The man lifts a finger and uses it to beckon Taeho closer. 

"Move a little closer you have something on your face." He says. Taeho does as he is told and moves his face closer to the man. Without warning the man quickly leans in and plants a small lingering kiss on his cheek tantalizingly close to his lips. Taeho swallows when the man moves back to his side of the counter, his face full of glee.

"Goodbye Taeho, I'll see you soon." He says. Taeho nods and waves and his feet float him out of the shop as his hand gingerly covers the spot on his cheek that seems to vibrate as it continually remembers the warm touch of soft lips. He grips the spider plant in his arms and looks down into the bag at it. 

Your name will be the same as his and you will stay alive so that he will finally say yes to going on a date with me. And you'll stay alive even longer than that so you become my good luck charm so that the date will go so well he'll want to go on many more, he thinks at the plant in his arms. "Got all that, Ungjae." He whispers out to the plant not caring about anyone on the street staring. He lets out a lovelorn sigh before replacing the breath in his lungs with a deep intake pulling in the sunshine of the day and the lingering floral scent from the flower shop that had already disappeared behind him. His steps pick up to get to his apartment quicker.

One week, lets do this!


	2. Secrets of a Spider Plant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Taeho and Ungjae end up as told through the eyes of the fateful spider plant.

He took me home one day and gave me a name. Ungjae. 

He told me I was his lucky charm and that I needed to survive. He took care of me and spoke to me about his troubles.

Some times when the sun had already gone down and I was ready for the dormant time of waiting for first light again he would come with a face bright red and crouch down beside me to tell me about him. My namesake, the real Ungjae, the one he actually loved.

He told me of the moment he fell in love. It had been a sunny day and he had been feeling the opposite of the weather. While passing by the flower shop on his usual route he slowed his pace hoping to catch a glimpse of the blooming flowers inside. He hoped such a pretty sight would lift his spirits a bit. But instead he saw a lithe man dressed in the shops apron to cover his street wear and dainty gold rimmed glasses. The glasses seemed to match the gentle roll of his fingertips as they brushed along a beautiful flower he was crouching in front of as he spoke to it. 

He told me how the sight stopped him in his tracks and the abrupt slide of his footsteps caused the man to look up and their eyes to meet. His heart felt like it nearly erupted and in response he ran the rest of the way to his house and didn't stop until he was huffing and puffing on the other side of his doorway. 

Every night he would enchant me with new stories of the man who made his face glow red and his heart beat faster. And every time I met with the sun again I thanked it for helping me through another day so that I could wait for the night to see that shine in his eyes when he spoke of his other Ungjae. 

But it happened one night that he did not come to me. I waited and waited until I could no longer fight off my dormant period. That was my first night without a story.

I woke with the first rays of the sun and waited as patient as a bloom. As the sun began to reach it's highest point the door of my room finally opened. Framed in the doorway was a man stylishly dressed in bright clothing. His gold rimmed glasses glinted on the sunlight that seemed to reach for him from the window to light up his gentle smile. 

This was Ungjae, my namesake. Does seeing him here mean I have succeeded in bringing them together? What would become of me now? As I pondered thise questions Ungjae made his way over to me and crouched down to my height on the little table by the sill. 

"Thank you for growing so well this week little guy. I was starting to worry our little bet was too hard for Taeho to win and I wouldn't want that." As he speaks he feels around the soil in my pot. Then he grabs a small container of water next to me and pours some in as if he somehow knew just how thirsty I was. He smiles as I let my leaves sway towards the sun. He places the watet container now half full beside me once again on the table and looks over his shoulder at the doorway. He turns back to me and leans in a bit closer as he reached out to stroke one of my blades.

"Between me and you, you're kind of like my lucky charm. I really like Taeho a lot so grow well for me ok? This is our little secret." He says. He turns back to the door to see Taeho leaning on the doorway. The smile on his face as he gazes at Ungjae in the sunlight and the loving light in his eyes affirms my determination to grow and to thrive. If only to bring them the luck they need for the rest of their lives to smile this way together forever. 

For them I will keep on growing. 


End file.
